Bitter Nostalgia
by Mistress Soul
Summary: No words could describe the magnitude of Dippers anger boiling through his veins. His entire world completely changed in only a day, and after all he had done for Mabel, he was betrayed. Dipper ventures into the woods to reflect, but what happens when Bill shows up to make a deal? AU set after Not What He Seems.
1. Chapter 1

To say Dipper was mad was an understatement. A very huge understatement, at that. There were no words to describe the full magnitude of the raw emotion, the raw anger, that he felt.

His sister, Mabel, the only one he felt he could trust completely. And yet, she trusted the word of a conman, their uncle, over that of her brother's. But one single thought haunted him: Was he even their uncle? Or, as they preferred to call him, grunkle? What if that was all a lie? Some sort of masterfully crafted plan they never knew about?

Dipper was too enraged to even consider Stan his grunkle anymore. What could possibly be worth risking the _destruction of the universe_?

All Summer, he had been excited to discover the identity of the person who wrote the mysterious journals. When, or if, he ever found out, he thought he'd be elated.

But now, he couldn't even find it in himself to care. He couldn't even find it in himself to care that the questions that kept him awake at night could finally be answered. All his previous excitement, gone without a trace.

The thoughts of the recent events overwhelmed him, and in a fit of emotion, Dipper powerfully kicked a tree as if it had done something personally to offend him. He kept on kicking the same tree for a while, until he didn't even care about that anymore.

Dipper sat down to reflect on what had just happened. And he longed for the nostalgia of the last week. Before this whole mess happened. Before he found out his grun-

_No,_ his mind hissed, _Stan_, was possibly a criminal mastermind.

In just one day, his entire world, everything he ever knew, everything he ever thought, had been flipped upside down.

Dipper sat there for what seemed like hours, wallowing in his depression, misery and rage, until a dreaded familiar figure materialized.

Bill Cipher.

"Well, well, well, Pine Tree." Bill drawled. "You've gotten yourself into quite the predicament."

Dipper sent a vicious glare towards the demonic nacho. "What do you want this time, Bill? Trying to take advantage of someone who's vulnerable?"

Bill looked amused. "Tsk! So quick to kill, aren't you, Pine Tree? No, I'm here to offer you a deal."

Warning bells went off in Dipper's head. Bill's deals never ended well for anyone who took them. He learned that from experience.

"Yes, and that worked out terrifically the last time. When you used my body as a puppet and tried to destroy the journal!" Dipper replied in bitter sarcasm.

"Why should I ever trust you after that and when you-" Dipper stood frozen, not finishing his sentence. But he didn't need to.

"You mean when I tried to steal the code from your good ol' grunkle, hmm?" Bill responded easily.

"Don't call him my _grunkle_." Dipper hissed dangerously.

"Ooh! You've got fire in you, huh kid?" The demon laughs, not at all phased by Dipper's tone. "Look Pine Tree, I know how your sister betrayed you for that conman who is _supposedly_-" Bill put large emphasis on the word supposedly, "-your uncle. I'm here to help you get the life you want. I've seen your mindscape, and boy, is it not as pretty as it used to be." Finished the dorito.

Dipper was too mentally unstable to catch onto the mindscape part. And onto the list of already unstable emotions, there was now fear. Because a part of him actually wanted to trust Bill, despite the incident with the puppets where he was left in a ghost-like form and despite him trying to steal the code. The rational side of his mind, however, screamed at him what a horrible idea it was. And yet he had to refrain himself from accepting and taking the demon's hand. He actually did end up reaching out, but just in time, he caught himself and asked, "What's the catch?"

Bill was exasperated. "Does there always be a catch? I'm doing this to help you, honest!"

His mind, the rational part at least, screamed "Lie!" but his memories began flooding in. In specific, the memories in which he had to sacrifice something for Mabel what now seemed to be countless times. From the gnomes that tried to make her their queen for all eternity when she refused to listen to his warnings, helping her with some stupid pointless puppet show when she thought her random crush of the week was more important than potentially uncovering some major secrets by helping him with the laptop code, relinquishing his job at the pool to help yet another random crush of hers, a merman creatively named Mermando, sacrificing a chance with Wendy so she could win her pig...and yet she still trusted that conman over him.

Overcome with emotion as suppressed rage and resentment filled his veins, he shook the demon's hand and said, "Deal."

* * *

**Edited 9/3/16.**


	2. Chapter 2

Mabel frowned, which was completely out of character for the usual happy-go-lucky cheerful and optimistic girl.

Dipper had left without explanation, which was something he never,_ ever_ did. He would always tell Mabel when he was off on some epic monster hunt, or Stan would be laughing as he forced Dipper to do something like hammer up signs. If that was the case, Stan would of most definitely told her about it, too, and even he was now acting out of character. The point was, though, whenever Dipper left, they always knew where he went.

But not this time. They had not even the faintest idea of where he was. And whenever he left, he was never gone for more than a few hours. But he had now been gone for several days. She hasn't slept in days, either. Not even a wink. She was too paranoid about her brother and her heart was filled with too much panic and despair. She could tell Stan, nor his new brother, hadn't slept either.

She knew that Dipper was angry and upset, and that he needed time to recover. But he always forgave her in the end. He could never stay mad at her forever. But this time, she was afraid she was wrong. That this _would_ be the permanent end of their relationship. She wished Dipper would hear her out, deep in her heart, she knew she made the right choice for everyone. Without Stanford, the brother of her grunkle who was revealed to be named Stanley, the prophecy to defeat Bill could never be completed.

Unfortunately, the prophecy couldn't be completed without Dipper, either.

* * *

Stanley had similar thoughts as Mabel. He had always made fun of Dipper, like that one time Dipper stayed up all night and had dark bags under his eyes, or when he and Mabel teased and mocked him for his height. Or other countless times.

He was guilt-ridden, and he could not explain just how much remorse, a rare emotion for him, he felt. He truly was a horrible uncle. He lied all Summer to both his and Mabel's face, from the journals, from not knowing about the supernatural, and most of all, the portal.

And now, he feared Dipper was gone for good. He did often venture out when he was angry and needed to cool off, but never for long. Now, it had been days, and still no sign of Dipper.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Both Mabel and Stanley sighed pessimistically, wondering what the random person was about to bother them about. Maybe someone finally came to blame them for the gravity anomalies.

But it wasn't. The sight of who it was made their jaws drop, and both of them swore their hearts stopped.

It was Dipper.

_Or was it?_

* * *

**Edited 9/3/16.**


	3. Author's Note

**Hello everyone, sorry for the lack of updates on this story. I wrote this back when the episode first came out, and I didn't fully know what I was writing about. I was just struck by inspiration and decided to write about how I thought Dipper might react.**

**I still don't really have any plans for this story, but I went back and edited the first chapter. Second will most likely get some editing later. I do wish to continue this story, but it might be a while until I can come up with a semi-decent plotline.**

**Nevertheless, I hope you have enjoyed the little of the story that is up.**

**This note will be removed when/if there is ever a chapter three.**


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